DJI Drone explodes at 330 FT over US highway - Debris lands on highway I could have killed several people

[Rogat19]

Thats not a picture of an explosion thats a picture of material being ruptured hitting the ground and teraring apart from the forces, an explosion moves outwards not inwards like that part of the drone has done

 

[John Lord]

Battery rocketed off drone trailing grey smoke in opposite direction from drone wreckage and was not recovered. No clue where it landed, I was more concerned about getting my drone off the highway. The battery clearly exploded if you look at the damaged bent battery connector pins, and the rear area looks like it was shot by a bullet.

Flight log DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com


DJI Technical staff says Out of Warranty send $982

DJI stated
"First, we have coordinated your concern and provided the pictures you presented with our Engineers and they reviewed it. They have checked it and we coordinate this to our analysis team to check the flight records. I was able to get the result of the analysis and based on their investigation, they didn't say that the battery exploded while flying.

Since the unit is already out of warranty, I'm sorry but we cannot provide free service and the quotation should be settled for us to continue on the case. Please check the after-sales policy on this link:After-Sales Service Policies -

To help you with the quotation, I can offer a 10% discount and should you accept it, you can inform me here. Please take note that the final notice was already sent to you and the drone might be sent back to you unrepaired in case the quotation will not be settled for a certain period of time.

Looking forward to your early reply.

Thank you for choosing DJI Products."

As I replied previously, which seems to have upset someone, this is a typical response from DJI Technical who appear to want to cover up malfunctions in their kit that results in loss of said kit. To offer 10% discount on replacement kit is nothing but insulting given the vast amounts of profit that DJI make. The sooner that DJI have some real competition the better for all of us. I use DJI kit in the form of an Inspire 2 and a Mavic Platinum along with an OSMO Pocket and Action and they are excellent but what really lets DJI down is their Customer Service and aftersales support. For this reason I would never buy direct from DJI and nor would I take out Care Refresh preferring a separate insurance that also provides public liability.

 

[Mrclaude]

"The battery clearly exploded if you look at the damaged bent battery connector pins, and the rear area looks like it was shot by a bullet."

Maybe someone really did take a shot at your drone?

 

[sar104]

As I replied previously, which seems to have upset someone, this is a typical response from DJI Technical who appear to want to cover up malfunctions in their kit that results in loss of said kit. To offer 10% discount on replacement kit is nothing but insulting given the vast amounts of profit that DJI make. The sooner that DJI have some real competition the better for all of us. I use DJI kit in the form of an Inspire 2 and a Mavic Platinum along with an OSMO Pocket and Action and they are excellent but what really lets DJI down is their Customer Service and aftersales support. For this reason I would never buy direct from DJI and nor would I take out Care Refresh preferring a separate insurance that also provides public liability.

Do you have some specific documented examples of poor or inappropriate customer service that you or anyone else received? By which I mean beyond the typical complaints that get posted and subsequently turn out to be unfounded. As I mentioned previously, I'm pretty sure that I've looked in detail at far more cases than you have, and the outcomes don't seem to support your assertion. I would agree that sometimes the initial DJI response is lacking, and that seems to be because they don't always do a thorough enough job of assessing the logs, but they always seem to be open to reconsidering.

 

[Wild Drone Pilot]

Doesn’t look too bad.
Maybe do an IMU and compass calibration and should be fine.

 

[Taylor1430]

Some folks have kind of hinted at it. Was this battery manufactured in that date range where they were randomly becoming unseated and popping out? I've seen several posts of "It just fell out of the sky" and my belief is some batteries are swelling and/or popping out causing a crash. The damage I see in the photos is consistent with a crash and not an explosion. When mentioned in the original post about the battery smoking and propelling away, was this in-flight or after everything crashed?

 

[johnbirt]

As I replied previously, which seems to have upset someone, this is a typical response from DJI Technical who appear to want to cover up malfunctions in their kit that results in loss of said kit. To offer 10% discount on replacement kit is nothing but insulting given the vast amounts of profit that DJI make. The sooner that DJI have some real competition the better for all of us. I use DJI kit in the form of an Inspire 2 and a Mavic Platinum along with an OSMO Pocket and Action and they are excellent but what really lets DJI down is their Customer Service and aftersales support. For this reason I would never buy direct from DJI and nor would I take out Care Refresh preferring a separate insurance that also provides public liability.

I would suggest you upset and annoyed more than just the one.

You provide no evidence whatsoever of DJI habitually covering anything up other than a vague reference to a friend who perhaps didn't get a replacement or deal he imagined he was entitled to and just repeated an oft recited urban myth proferred by disgruntled DJI customers when they don't get a gratis replacement. This and other forums are full of people who think they deserve a replacement for what is nearly always clearly their fault. The OP got very short shrift from the official DJI forum from quite independent but very knowlegeable experienced observers so came here for sympathy. Most of us would indeed feel for his loss but would baulk at being cajoled into believing non existent fanciful claims of an explosion just to support a generous settlement from DJI. Repeated pictures of a mangled drone are no help for a diagnosis. No way in the world did an explosion cause that. The clearly described vision of what happened to the drone is in complete contrast to the complete lack of vision of a flaming smoking battery which basic projectile dynamics would suggest would head in an approximately downward trajectory once ejected and shouldn't then be too far away from the drone itself. Leaving a plume of smoke and flames in its wake would be some clue.

In this case the evidence(?) provided, without any steering from a highly emotive clickbait headline and the suggestion from the OP that there is only really one possible conclusion to be had, would suggest to most unbiased observers that there was no explosion and no clear culpability on the part of DJI.

I can't think of any firms in any walk of life who would just on the say so of a customer replace or compensate without question. Dream on!

On the other hand I must stand corrected. I lost 2 very small springs from a PolarPro CrystalSky Flightdeck mount some months back. I asked Polarpro via email if they could provide replacements and advise me of cost and postage. I was asked to provide a scan of my invoice. A week later I received from Canada to the UK the latest version of their mount entirely free with current UK value £49.99. Some replacement for a couple of tiny springs! The other mount still works minus springs but is just a tad more difficult to adjust.

 

[BigAl07]

@John Lord no one was "upset" by your post. I called you out for a Community Rule violation and nothing more.

Ok gang.. .we are getting off topic and pushing this thread into the ditches. Let's get back to helping @USMC_Rich and hoping he can get some resolution/closure.

Remember the Community Rules we all agreed to say:

"Please think before you post and keep your comments limited to the topic at hand and above all - be nice "

and again

14. We take the "be nice" rule VERY seriously! We do not tolerate discourtesy or disrespect.

I've cleaned this thread ONE time already... let's not get off track and make it need ANOTHER cleaning.

 

[Martysticks]

Welcome to the forum even though it's under these dramatic circumstances.

Unfortunately it's not so much special that the log can revile regarding the flight itself ... You zipped around the parking lot some & then mainly ascended up to 102 meters while rotating were the log ends ... no warnings or other special thing's there. The temp were around 25C degrees & the winds between 9-11m/s but none of this had anything to do with this.

View attachment 94551

View attachment 94552

One thing found though, see below ... the battery used didn't behave healthy at all. Can't see anything else then this as a possible cause. Not surprised that DJI refuses this either, as if I'm remember correctly... the battery warranty time only is 6 month (log indicates that the battery were manufactured 21-Oct. 2017). Suspect that this battery have misbehaved already some time before this ... how have you stored it, treated it between flights & have you noticed any strange with this battery before this occurred? Have you followed the battery degradation trend over the year's in any way?

View attachment 94553

What software are you using to generate these reports?

 

[sar104]

What software are you using to generate these reports?

Those are made using CsvView. There's an overview of various methods and options in this thread:

Flight log retrieval and analysis guide

 

[Rogat19]

This picture shows body parts pushed into the battery compartment.

View attachment 94569

I would think that if the battery exploded, parts would be pushed away from the battery compartment. This looks more like impact damage.

Exactly!!

 

[Rogat19]

BigAl07 would respectfully suggest this thread is closed

@John Lord no one was "upset" by your post. I called you out for a Community Rule violation and nothing more.

Ok gang.. .we are getting off topic and pushing this thread into the ditches. Let's get back to helping @USMC_Rich and hoping he can get some resolution/closure.

Remember the Community Rules we all agreed to say:

"Please think before you post and keep your comments limited to the topic at hand and above all - be nice "

and again

14. We take the "be nice" rule VERY seriously! We do not tolerate discourtesy or disrespect.

I've cleaned this thread ONE time already... let's not get off track and make it need ANOTHER cleaning.

I would respectfully suggest this thread is closed, the author hasn't been seen for some time and i doubt he will be back given his lack of answers to reasonable questions and sarcastic remarks to other members its time we all moved on

 

[BigAl07]

Thread CLOSED!! @USMC_Rich if you come back and you want this re-opened just let anyone on staff here know and we will reopen it.